Field
Example embodiments in general relate to a cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) liner reel system for managing the utilization and deployment of CIPP liners.
Related Art
Cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) liners have been used for many years for the rehabilitation of different types and sizes of conduit and piping systems such as utility, sewer, water, electric, telecom, industrial, petroleum, fire suppression, heating, cooling and the like. The majority of materials used to manufacture these liners is felt and fleece type fabrics which have a thin flexible PVC or Polyurethane type jacket coating on one side. The liners are usually impregnated with a thermosetting type resin then installed by inverting the liner inside of the host conduit or pipe with air or water.
Recently, ultraviolet (UV) cured-in-place pipe liners are another type of CIPP liner that utilize UV light to cure the CIPP liner inside of a conduit. UV cured CIPP liners are bulky and relatively heavy to work with. Furthermore, UV cured CIPP liners need to be handled carefully because if the outer protective layer is damaged or partially removed, the UV cured CIPP liner will harden within minutes when exposed to sunlight. U.S. Pat. No. 8,580,364 to Quitter illustrates an exemplary UV cured CIPP liner.
There are many ways of inserting a CIPP liner into a host pipe, including pulling the liner through the host pipe from the opposite end. The CIPP liner is often times transported to the installation site and directly dispensed into the host pipe. If that is not possible, an appropriate length of CIPP liner can be removed from its transport and placed near the insertion point. However, when the size of the host pipe is very large, it can be difficult to move a sufficiently large section of CIPP liner to the insertion point. In some cases, the CIPP liner can simply be pulled the entire distance between the transport and the insertion point. The excess CIPP liner is either returned to the transport or discarded, if it has become damaged. Another alternative is to move a liner box containing CIPP liner closer to the insertion point using a tractor. However, if the amount of CIPP liner needed is much smaller than the amount contained in a liner box, the needed amount must either be separated from the box, or excess CIPP liner material must be moved to the insertion point only to be returned to the transport. In addition, it can be difficult to dispense CIPP liner directly from a liner box because it is typically stored using an accordion fold.
Because of the inherent problems with the related art, there is a need for a new and improved way of dispensing a CIPP liner for efficient usage of a CIPP liner.